About Aiki-Doing

How do you say this site's name?

Great question! The name comes from a combination of this, most notably my practice of Aikido and the emphasis on "doing things" as the moment of action found in the GTD system, Zen Buddhism (see Dogen!), and working for social change.

From the Japanese, Aikido is written three characters. Here's the brush work by the founder of Aikido, Morihei Ueshiba, or O Sensei as we who practice call him:

We who practice often interpret the first kanji ,"Ai" (say like "eye!"), as harmony, love or peace, representing a non-destructive orientation; the second kanji, "Ki" (say like "key") as energy or intention; and the third, "Do" (say like Homer: "D'oh!") as a spiritual path, life practice or way.

So the name of my site combines the first two Japanese sounds of Aikido with the US American gerund "doing." So look up to the location bar in your browser, and say it like "eye-key-dewing dot net," as in:

I was going to find the key, but was doing something else instead - penciling a dot and mending my net!

Aiki-Doing.net! You got it!

what's it all about?

For starters, like I mentioned on the homepage... It's the personal web home of Mike Dolan Fliss of the triangle area in NC, USA. Duh! :-)

It's also the online professional home of Aiki-Doing Consulting... providing nonprofit/small business tech consulting, individual PC and organizing support, and young adult time/to-do coaching.

This site connects resources and personal stories about:

• social justice issues like racism and white privilege, gender and male privilege, class identity, sexual orientation, agism, environmental responsibility, etc.
• regular training in Aikido, the Japanese martial art built around priciples of non-resistance and non-violence. I'm talking the nitty-gritty physical practice, not just its beautiful ideas. But I'll talk about them too.
• Zen Buddhism, especially the practice of zazen, the practice of the precepts, and its personal and community implications for me in social justice work.
• getting things done (GTD), the personal organization framework popularized by David Allen to get everything out of your head that stiffles relaxed productivity.

At this point you might be wondering: what the heck do those things have to do with each other? To me, everything. So this site will, over time, explore that very wonder through stories and musings.

Who are you, again?

Some guy.

No, really. I'm mainly writing here to help me document my own experiences and start conversations... not pass on knowledge, really. Some of this stuff might be useful or interesting to you - great! Glad you're reading. Some of this stuff might annoy you - great! I hope you share. Some of this stuff might be totally uninteresting to you - great! I hope you stop reading that stuff or develop a taste for it.

I'm just really interested in these topics, so decided to contribute to the wider community conversation about their overlaps by startin' up a webpage. Plus, I wanted an official consulting home. So there.

What are you into?

As far as what I do, I like to be involved in a lot of different stuff. I currently I work as a nonprofit consultant and martial arts assistant teacher, primarily in Duke's PhysEd Department. I am in grad school at the University of North Carolina for their Masters in Social Work program (and am interning with Durham Center for Employment Training this year as part of that program) and am almost done with my Duke Certificate in Nonprofit Management. I practice Aikido at Open Sky Aikikai (and travel for Aikido when I can), practice (and sometimes help teach) Chen Tai Chi and practice Ashtanga Yoga. I'm interested in social justice community change work. I live in the triangle area of NC: Hillsborough, but have often lived in and love Durham. I practice close-up magic under the occasional tutelage of magican and all-around great guy Josh Lozoff, though I'm not really performing yet.

In the past, I've worked as a middle school teacher at a small, tuition free private school, a tax preparer with H&R Block, a programmer for Lockheed Martin (when I was younger and less politically aware), and volunteered a buncha buncha places doing odd-jobs. I went to Duke for undergrad majoring in Computer Science and Philosophy and minoring in Religion (Buddhism), but am most proud of my education through the Public Allies, North Carolina non-profit youth leadership program.

Those are my experiences, affiliations and networks. If you're interested in similar experiences, I'd love to hear from you!